06 November, 2015

Britain’s ‘kill list’: MPs question legality of UK drone strikes

MPs have
questioned the legality of the government’s targeted killing of
three British jihadists in Syria during the summer and asked whether
ministers have drawn up a “kill list” for future attacks.

Parliament’s
Joint Committee on Human Rights wrote to Attorney General Jeremy
Wright QC and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond to ask whether the
killing of Reyaad Khan, Ruhul Amin and Junaid Hussain this summer by
UK and US drones was a violation of international law.

Committee
chair Harriet Harman MP also wrote to the Ministry of Defence (MoD)
asking to visit RAF Waddington, the base from which drone strikes are
launched and controlled. Prime Minister David Cameron authorized the
targeted killing of three British jihadists by an RAF drone strike in
August.

The Islamic
State (formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants killed in the attack are
believed to be Ruhul Amin, 26, from Aberdeen, and Reyaad Khan, 21,
from Cardiff. No civilians were reported to have been killed in the
airstrike.